Google's Sky Map App goes open source

Now it is time to discover the night sky and also browse through it simply by pointing your phone towards the space. Google has made the Sky Map application open source thereby allowing the developers to modify and optimize the application. This way the app will be enhanced for the users.

The Sky Map app is a combination of the basic astronomical information and also the camera of the Android smartphone to get more details on the heavenly bodies.

The smartphone's orientation sensors are used by the app to show the star map in your location. The search function helps in finding the stars, constellations and planets. This works well on all the Android smartphones for free of cost.

The app makes use of the compass, accelerometer and GPS of the phone to create the window to the sky and this can be moved with your hand. The map shows the planets, brightest stars, moon, sun, constellation lines, cardinal directions, horizon and the messier objects.

This app has already encountered over 10 million downloads and still Google is working on a project with the Carnegie Melon university. The developments that the students make in this app will be available in the Android Market.